A twisty story with broad reader appeal.
Real and otherworldly dramas collide.
Frankie isn’t happy: Leaving her friends in New Jersey behind to start eighth grade at the Pythagorean Institute, a special boarding school that used to be a “weird 1970s mind expansion cult,” is hard enough. “Average” Frankie resents having to go there with little brother Lucie, whom everyone sees as “exceptional,” both because he has actual horns—a rare genetic condition makes his fast-growing bones dense; they even extend outside his body—and because he’s extremely smart and charismatic. Plus, the school bans cellphones. The Institute is surprising in many ways, not least because of the “differently bodied” students like Lucie, who are called deems, although there are other norms like Frankie. Between her Latin teacher (who’s a faun), her roommate (who’s a vampire), and the evil spirits haunting the grounds, this school is clearly extraordinary. What Frankie wasn’t expecting was to learn that she has powers that are inextricably linked to the Institute and those who run it. What that means—and whom Frankie should trust—remains to be seen. The third-person narration can feel like a rote play-by-play account, but the characters and plot are interesting and develop quickly, and the cliffhanger ending will leave readers hungry for more. The straightforward writing and the story’s brevity enhance accessibility. Frankie is cued white; there’s racial diversity among the supporting cast.
A twisty story with broad reader appeal. (Paranormal. 10-14)Pub Date: July 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780593660942
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A captivating book situated in present-day discourse around the refugee crisis, featuring two boys who stand by their high...
Two parallel stories, one of a Syrian boy from Aleppo fleeing war, and another of a white American boy, son of a NATO contractor, dealing with the challenges of growing up, intersect at a house in Brussels.
Ahmed lost his father while crossing the Mediterranean. Alone and broke in Europe, he takes things into his own hands to get to safety but ends up having to hide in the basement of a residential house. After months of hiding, he is discovered by Max, a boy of similar age and parallel high integrity and courage, who is experiencing his own set of troubles learning a new language, moving to a new country, and being teased at school. In an unexpected turn of events, the two boys and their new friends Farah, a Muslim Belgian girl, and Oscar, a white Belgian boy, successfully scheme for Ahmed to go to school while he remains in hiding the rest of the time. What is at stake for Ahmed is immense, and so is the risk to everyone involved. Marsh invites art and history to motivate her protagonists, drawing parallels to gentiles who protected Jews fleeing Nazi terror and citing present-day political news. This well-crafted and suspenseful novel touches on the topics of refugees and immigrant integration, terrorism, Islam, Islamophobia, and the Syrian war with sensitivity and grace.
A captivating book situated in present-day discourse around the refugee crisis, featuring two boys who stand by their high values in the face of grave risk and succeed in drawing goodwill from others. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-30757-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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